Chapter 586 Trading Sharks

   On the 29th, the Suns beat the bad Spurs at home, and then lost back-to-back to the Warriors on the road the next day.

   After the regular season in November, the Suns were 10 wins and 5 losses, ranking fourth in the Western Conference. The first in the Western Conference was the Trail Blazers, the second was the Kings, the third was the Mavericks, and the fifth was the Lakers.

  The league announced the MVP rankings, and Duncan ranked first, averaging 25 points per game.

  Pharaoh is still second. The team record has dragged him down, and his personal data advantage is not that big, and his average points per game have dropped to 30 points.

   He doesn't care about this at all now, but is fully cooperating with the team, and hone the Suns' tactics is the most important thing, and everything is for the championship.

  The third place in the MVP rankings is Kobe Bryant, who ranks first in the league in scoring average of 35 points, higher than Pharaoh.

   Fourth is Garnett, averaging 23 points.

   fifth is McGrady, scoring 33 points per game.

   sixth is Dayao, scoring 26 points per game.

   seventh is Iverson, averaging 28 points.

   Eighth is Nowitzki, averaging 24 points.

   Ninth is Ben Wallace, averaging 11 points.

The OK combination of the Lakers has only been working together for the second season. There are already many contradictions, and the locker room is incompatible. Kobe Bryant rarely passes the ball to O'Neal on the court. O'Neal is limited by the double-team strategy in advance. Having fallen out of the top five of the MVP rankings, Kobe Bryant entered the top five.

Although O'Neal won the championship, as a senior, he is the only behemoth-level super center in the league who can compete with Old K. He is not willing to be Kobe's younger brother. In the Lakers, he must at least maintain the status of one of the dual cores. , the team should give him enough shot right.

   And Kobe was too paranoid about basketball. He hoped that all his teammates would get up before dawn to train like him, so he was very disgusted by O'Neal's laziness.

   The conflict between the two caused a headache for the management, racking their brains, but there was no way to resolve it.

  Jerry West really has no choice. He just wants to come up with a way that is not a solution. Trade one of them. Anyway, the OK group is in trouble, so turn passive into active and take the initiative.

   Whoever trades, of course, can only trade O'Neal, that's for sure, so he found the Blazers, hoping to trade Duncan with O'Neal, just for one.

  The Blazers rejected it outright. Although the big shark is delicious, Duncan has just won a championship for the team, and he is a few years younger than O'Neal. O'Neal is also entering the decline channel from the peak period, and the management has no reason to trade him.

   On December 4th, Jerry West, who was rejected, turned to the Nets, hoping to trade O'Neal and Dayao for one.

   The Nets also refused, because Dayao is 8 years younger than O'Neal, and the same debut is the peak, and it is completely uneconomical to exchange alone.

   The matter of the Lakers seeking a trade was done secretly, O'Neal didn't know, but he couldn't hide it from David Stern.

   If it was another strong team in the West, Stern would be happy to see it dismantled and strengthen the strength of the East, but now it is the Lakers, which makes him very annoyed.

   He didn’t want to see problems in the league’s second-largest market, the interests were too great, and he had to intervene.

  How to intervene, there is no other way, unless the Lakers can use O'Neal to exchange players of the same grade and maintain the strength of the Lakers, otherwise he will not approve the relevant transaction.

   The regular season is continuing. The Suns are building an offensive and defensive tactical system step by step. By the end of 2002, it has already taken shape.

   On the offensive end, the problem of mistakes is slowly getting better, but when confronted with a strong defensive opponent, Nash's efficiency declined, and the Suns' performance was significantly worse.

   After repeated discussions with the coaching staff, D'Antoni decided that once they encounter this kind of team, the Suns will focus on positional warfare, with the old K as the absolute core of the attack.

   On the defensive end, the defensive system with Lao Wang as the absolute core is also getting better and better.

  Wang Tiejun now has at least 60% of his energy to focus on the defensive end, and there are not a few when defending three-pointers. Nash, Hardaway and Stoudemire are all average in defense. He needs to make up for others frequently.

   He cuts down on the offensive end, and opportunities for others come.

Marion's data returned to last season, with 22+8 data, and the offensive efficiency was also higher by 47.5%, which was two percentage points higher than last season. Only the rebounding data was lowered because of Pharaoh. He is also the third player of the Suns. Two points.

  Nash is the third scoring point, averaging 15 points and 10.5 assists.

   Stoudemire and Hardaway were the fourth and fifth scoring points, averaging 13 and 10 points per game.

  The five main players, together, contributed an average of 90 points per game.

   So far, the Suns have averaged 103.2 points per game, first in the league, and averaged 93.2 points per game, the tenth in the league, although they are currently strong in attack and defense.

   At the end of December, the Suns played 31 regular season games, 21 wins and 10 losses, and lost another 5 games this month, still ranking fourth in the Western Conference, followed by the Lakers.

The Lakers could not seek a trade, so they could only go back to the work of the OK group. Although Kobe wanted the team to trade O'Neal, he couldn't do it now, and the team's record should not be too bad. .

   In addition, Phil Jackson handed part of the ball to Fisher, who passed the ball for O'Neal, temporarily appeasing O'Neal.

   With the cooperation of the OK group, and O'Neal's state has actually begun to decline from the peak, the Lakers' record has not improved significantly.

But this is not to say that the Lakers are not strong enough. Although O'Neal's state has begun to decline, Kobe's current strength really has the momentum to impact the first player in the league. According to media analysis, Kobe's current strength should have 70% of Jordan's peak strength, and in experience and In terms of technology, there is still room for improvement in strength. If it weren't for the return of the old K, maybe he would already be the first player in active service. The Lakers' record can't climb up, because there are indeed too many strong teams in the West this season.

  The time entered 2003, and the league announced the MVP rankings in December 2002. Duncan still ranked first, and Pharaoh was still second.

   On the 1st, the league announced the start of the All-Star voting.

   There is a change in this year's All-Star voting, that is, the addition of online voting, especially the opening of the online voting channel in China.

The news of    made domestic fans very excited, because this method gave them a sense of participation, and countless fans went to Internet cafes and started voting.

   No. 2, the Suns won Philadelphia at home.

  3, at 1 noon, the Lakers arrived in Phoenix.

   On this day, a large number of reporters from all over the world rushed to Phoenix.

  After the Lakers settled in the hotel, at 2:30, in response to many media requests, a press conference was held at the hotel.

   "Shaq, you said you wanted to rub Old K on the floor, have you forgotten what you said?" a local reporter asked.

  O'Neal dried his throat and murmured, "Yes, um, it seems so."

   "It's not like, you just said it." The reporter immediately reminded.

   Glancing at the reporter, O'Neal said unconvincingly: "So what if I had said that, if I had as many shots as Old K, I would be able to average 50+ per game."

   This stabbed the hornet's nest, and reporters raised their hands.

   The host specially named a reporter from the Los Angeles Daily, hoping that the reporter would be merciful, but he would have been disappointed by the reporter as soon as he opened his mouth.

  The reporter took the microphone and asked, "Shaq, even if you give you so many shots, do you have the physical strength of Old K? Can you maintain the terrifying offensive efficiency of Old K from start to finish?

   And the old K can complete the dynasty in the Lakers, beat you and Jordan, not only with offense, his defense, rebounding, organization and other contributions are all crucial, can you compare these with him? Do you have his indestructible willpower? "

   There is a sneer of disdain on Kobe's face next to him, a lazy shark, why should he be compared with the old K? This is not the only one who thinks so. If you look at the media in Los Angeles, you will know that O'Neal, the big fat man, is not popular in Los Angeles.

  O'Neal almost vomited blood by the reporter. This is a reporter from Los Angeles, so he doesn't show any affection? No face at all?

  Damn, old K has left the Lakers. Now he is a Suns player, and I am a Lakers player. Do you have any brain problems against me like this?

   When he came to Los Angeles, in addition to Kobe's annoyance, another thing that annoyed him was that the Los Angeles media often compared him with old K. Now he regrets coming to Los Angeles.

   "Tie Jun, how many days do you think the OK group will last?" Zhang Heli, who came over to grab a meal in Lao Wang's villa, asked.

Pharaoh looked at O'Neal and Kobe on the TV, thought for a moment, and said, "It's barely tied together now, but as long as O'Neal's state declines significantly, they will definitely break up, the management will sell at a low price, and they will also trade O'Neal. of."

   In the evening, Kobe came to Pharaoh's house and brought a lot of specially prepared gifts to Zhou Zhou.

   "Old K, why didn't you bring Dabao and you left him alone in China? I still want to teach him to play."

   As soon as he got out of the car, he shouted when he saw Pharaoh.

   "He doesn't want to come here. The brat hasn't grown his hair yet. Now he is more interested in picking girls than playing ball." Lao Wang started to arrange his son without hesitation.

   "What nonsense? My son is only in the first grade of elementary school, and Qian Qian is also grown up. Now that she has made her debut, don't talk nonsense outside, the media will write it."

   Brother Fei came out, followed by Xiao Tai Zhou Zhou, and when he heard what Lao Wang said, he rolled his eyes at him.

   "Dabao doesn't want to play?" Kobe asked in surprise.

   "I also practiced, but I didn't pay much attention." Old Wang shook his head.

   "Zhou Zhou, come here, the car is full of your gifts." Kobe didn't ask any more, but opened the door, and the back seat was full of toys.

Pharaoh took one at random. It is a kind of assembled toy for warships. The large ones require patience and a lot of brains, but Zhou Zhou likes this the most. Your daughter should have the talent of an architect or designer.

   "Kobe, have you and Shaquille O'Neal fought in the locker room?" Pharaoh then asked after sitting down in the living room.

When    mentioned O'Neal, Kobe was unhappy and complained: "Old K, if you don't go back to the Lakers, then you let Yao come to the Lakers, I really can't stand O'Neal."

   "Do you want to join forces with Dayao? Has the management sought a deal?" Lao Wang said in surprise.

   Kobe nodded and shook his head again: "The Nets don't like O'Neal, and the deal didn't work. The management also tried to trade Duncan, but it didn't work."

Pharaoh smiled, O'Neal is one year older than him, and now the injury has come out, and the tonnage is so large, this season has actually begun to decline from the peak, although now relying on the terrifying tonnage, the dominance at the basket is still It can be called the number one in the league, but it can be predicted that in the next two or three years, the state will continue to decline. Such O'Neal, the management of the Blazers and the Nets should not trade as long as their brains are not bad.

   But he can't solve the problem of the Lakers, so the Lakers are unlucky.

   In order to get him, the Lakers chose to trade Duncan. When he retired, the Lakers got nothing, but he also left a dynasty with the Lakers, and he didn’t owe the Lakers anything.

   No. 4, match day.

   At 8:00, the two teams announced their starting rosters.

  Sun: Wang Tiejun, Amare Stoudemire, Marion, Anfernee Hardaway, Nash

  Lakers: Shaquille O'Neal, Samaki Walker, Rick Fox, Kobe, Fisher

   This game was broadcast live by TNT in the United States, as well as by CCTV.

"The Lakers and the Nets are somewhat similar, both are too bad at the 4th position. The Nets did not keep Van Horn. Danny Fortson was seriously injured last season and was thrown to the Warriors by the Lakers. If the two teams have a better power forward , their strength this season can completely compete with the Blazers and the Kings." Kenny Smith said.

Barkley shook his head and said: "Actually, I'm not optimistic about the Kings. I think they are just regular season teams. The playoffs have a bad future. They can't get past the Blazers, the Suns, and even the Lakers and Mavericks. Probably not."

Kenny Smith asked in surprise: "The media has been saying that there are five first-tier teams in the West, the Trail Blazers, the Kings, the Mavericks, the Suns, the Lakers, and this is also the top five in the West. Do you think the King is in five teams. What level are you in?"

  Barkley said without hesitation: "Like the Mavericks, they belong to pseudo-strong teams, and they only play well, but they are not competitive enough to enter the real playoffs."

   "What about the Suns? The way they play now is also very good-looking, and the viewing is no less than that of the Kings." Kenny Smith said.

"When the Suns have Old K, they will have defense, which the Kings don't have. And on the offensive end, when others can't, Old K can take over everything, and the Kings have no such person. Old K can lead the Suns and The Lakers have won five championships, who has the ability in the Kings?" Barkley asked.

   Five crowns? Kenny Smith is speechless, Charles, aren't you afraid of being beaten by old K?

   He immediately asked, "Then who do you think is most likely to make it to, um, the Western Conference finals among these five strong teams?"

   "Kenny, why don't you ask about the Finals?" Barkley asked curiously.

   "Because obviously, this year's Western Conference finals will be more attractive than the finals." Kenny Smith said.

   "It's a sadness, haha!"

Barkley said after laughing a few times: "Who can reach the Western Conference Finals depends on how these teams meet in the first and second rounds. If they meet in advance, of course, there will definitely be **** among them. The teams meet early, but if I only analyze the strength, I am more optimistic about the Trail Blazers and the Suns.”

   "You are optimistic about the sun? Is it out of friendship with old K?" asked Kenny Smith.

"of course not!"

   Barkley immediately denied.

"Old K, Barkley swallowed you one championship. He has been spreading the word that you led the team to five championships in ten years. The other championship belongs to him. If it wasn't for you, how could he have done better than Jordan?" In the locker room, Da Meng said.

   He just arrived in Phoenix and is currently residing in Los Angeles to run his training camp and earn some extra money. He came here today to watch the game and sue Barkley for his misdeeds.

   "This fat man is about to beat and beat, and he always uses me to step his feet." Old Wang nodded.

   "When are we going to invite a group of people to the club for dinner, let him treat him, and slaughter him?" Da Meng suggested.

   "Good idea." Lao Wang said.

   "Ah!"

  Buckley sneezed suddenly, and some materials on the commentary box flew up and fell to the ground.

   "Patrick, good luck."

   "Good luck to you too, David."

   Courtside, Ewing and David Robinson shook hands and gave a hug.

   The two were sighing with emotion to each other. Unexpectedly, the opponents who fought to the death in various honors back then are now hugging the thighs of young people. For the championship, they have fallen.

Many media reporters next to    were also very emotional. The three super centers of the Megatron League had the same dream of two championships as Barkley. However, the fate of these two super centers was unfortunate, and they actually fell into the position of hugging their thighs.

   (end of this chapter)